Team Focus: Fifth Successive Title No Longer Mission Impossible for Juventus

There is a plaque outside the Alberto Braglia commemorating the first of Fausto Coppi’s wins in the Giro d’Italia in 1940. On Sunday it was the latest stage for Juventus in what has been an uphill season in Serie A. The topography in Modena? Flat with one or two bumps. In other words, made for sprinter’s.  

Against Carpi, the champions won their seventh game in a row the league. It is the longest winning streak of coach Max Allegri’s career. Rather than a Grand Tour or a Time Trial, the cycling discipline Juventus’ season most resembles is pursuit. Six weeks ago they were 11 points behind the leaders. By the close of play on Sunday night the gap is down to only three lengths and we’re not yet at the end of the first half of the season.

As such, Juventus can have themselves a very Merry Christmas. Allegri had told anxious fans and sceptical journalists to be patient. “You’ll see,” he said. “We’ll be in an altogether different position by Christmas.” His prediction, just like the ones he made about Juventus qualifying from the group of death in the Champions League and how Paulo Dybala, after careful nurturing, would soon become a match-winner like his predecessor Carlitos Tevez, have led the Turin press pack to apologise to Hernanes because the real Prophet is Allegri. That, in turn, only prompted the Juventus coach to say sorry to them. “I don’t have the lottery numbers,” he smiled.  

All jokes aside, Allegri has once again underlined his reputation as one of the select few coaches able to handle the delicate decision to transition from one team to another. His crisis management of all the inevitable problems such a process throws up also never ceases to impress. We first saw this at Milan after the sales of Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and retirement of several veteran club legends. Milan lost five of their opening eight games, but improbably reached the Champions League places, an achievement that looks all the more remarkable with the passing of time and the ongoing issues his successors have encountered at San Siro.  

That experience must have helped him this season. Juventus lost Pirlo, Tevez and Vidal. They returned to pre-season late after a gruelling season in which they so nearly won the treble. Injuries decimated the team and they made their worst start in 103 years. Juventus won only two of their opening eight league games. No team has ever won the Scudetto with such a record, but Allegri remained calm.  

This is what his former captain Massimo Ambrosini believes is his greatest quality as a coach. He doesn’t panic or overreact. He won’t let his players get overwhelmed by the big picture. Instead, it’s about baby steps. Taking it one game at a time. Marginal gains that once added up go very far. The turning point for Juventus was the Sassuolo defeat. Afterwards, captain Gigi Buffon emerged in front of the cameras, his pride wounded, to declare enough is enough. Juventus rallied. Juan Cuadrado’s 93rd minute winner in the Turin derby restored belief. It set the team on their way out of crisis and back into contention.  

On the whole the defence is solid again. Until Josip Ilicic’s penalty - Fiorentina’s only shot on target a week ago - Juventus hadn’t conceded in the league in nearly six hours. After returning to what they know best - the 3-5-2 formation they can play with their eyes closed - the BBC is back defending with authority. Only Fiorentina have faced fewer shots (148) than Juventus (152) this season. Sunday’s performance against Carpi also yielded positives that went beyond the result. Mario Mandzukic only made two touches in their box in the first half, but scored twice. He now has five in his last six games.  

Pogba also found the net a day after Allegri had expressed his opinion that he needs to score more. Goals from midfield used to be a Juventus trademark and his run for this one, his third of the season in Serie A, had something of the Vidal about it. On a similar note Claudio Marchisio’s long ball for Pogba’s goal also called to mind Andrea Pirlo. These can perhaps be interpreted as signs that Juventus are moving on.  

It wouldn’t be true, however, to claim that Allegri was completely satisfied with the performance. Juventus started and finished poorly. For the ninth time this season, the champions went behind. They have trailed for 300 minutes in this campaign, which is startling when you think they only spent seven minutes behind in the entire first half of last season. Of course Mandzukic soon got them level and even had Juventus in front before half time. Juventus have now come back and won from behind four times, recovering 13 points from losing positions. It’s testament to their character.  

Asleep at kick-off, then woken up by Marco Borriello’s goal, Juventus began to doze again at 3-1. Bonucci scored an own-goal in stoppage time, then moments later Lollo had an opportunity to equalise. It infuriated Allegri, who ripped off his overcoat and tossed it in anger then kicked a water bottle over the bench.“Better to throw a jacket away than the points,” Mad Max later tweeted. Allegri had feared Juventus were about to suffer the same fate they did against Frosinone at the beginning of the season. But they saw the game out. Just.  

Remarkably, winning the Scudetto no longer looks like an Impossible Mission, which is an incredible turnaround when you consider how Jose Mourinho couldn’t get Chelsea out of the negative spiral they began the season in. Belief is growing that Juventus can make it five in a row for the first time since the 1930s. Napoli, Roma and Inter all have to go to the J Stadium in the second half of the season. Those games, a couple of which fall close to Juventus’ Round of 16 tie with Bayern Munich in the Champions League, promise to be decisive.  

An unpredictable season could well have a predictable end. But boring it isn’t. If they do it, you’d have to take your hat off to Juventus. Last season they did it without Conte. Now they threaten to do it without Tevez, Pirlo and Vidal. Can anyone stop them?

Will Juventus secure their fifth successive Serie A title this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below